Off-duty firefighter rescues 1 in Near North Side high-rise fire

December 13, 2009

Flames shoot out of a high-rise building on the Near North Side this afternoon. (Luis Arroyave/Chicago Tribune.)

Chicago firefighters quickly put out an extra-alarm fire in an upper floor apartment of a Sandburg Village high rise this afternoon as an off-duty firefighter rescued a woman from the building, running up 28 flights of stairs, then carrying her back down, fire officials said.

Officials called a 2-11 alarm at the Bryant House condominiums at 1455 N. Sandburg Terrace a little after 2 p.m. and the fire was put out by about 2:30 p.m.

The woman was taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with possible smoke inhalation and burns, said Fire Department District Chief Jeff Springer. The woman, believed to be between 50 and 60 years old, lived alone in the duplex apartment on the 28th floor where the fire occurred, Springer said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and it did not spread beyond the apartment, Springer said. The building is believed to have a sprinkler system in the lobby and common areas but not inside the apartment units themselves, Springer said.

Jason Durbin, 33, an off-duty firefighter, said he was working a side job driving an ambulance for a private company. He was driving south on Clark Street after grabbing a hot dog when he looked up and saw smoke billowing out of a unit near the top of the building.

Durbin said that he ran up 28 flights to the woman's floor and found the woman conscious about half way down the smokey hallway.

She was in the fetal position overcome with smoke, he said. He grabbed the woman and put her on his back, piggyback style, and carried her down to the ground floor, said Durbin who joined the department 15 months ago and said this was his first rescue.

"Sounds cliche, but anybody in our profession would do the exact same thing," Durbin said. "It is cliche, but there's nobody that's going to stand down there and just watch."

Five ambulances were sent to the scene as a precaution because the fire was in a high-rise building.

Jack McIlvain, 12, and his mother Margaret escaped their 25th floor apartment when they heard loud noises coming from the unit above their apartment. Jack, who was on the street dressed in shorts, a jacket and gymshoes said he was taking a nap when the fire began heating up.

"I heard a boom and then I looked out and glass, it was falling down,'' said Jack.

Margaret McIlvain said they took an elevator to escape even though a smoke alarm told people to stay inside their units. She said she heard banging which she first believed was the wind causing furniture on her balcony to be pushed around.

"Glass exploded, all I wanted to do was get out,'' said McIlvain. "I have a child. I'm sorry, I ran out.''

She said she grabbed a flute belonging to her sister-in-law which was being used by her son to learn the instrument. Her son kept talking about not retrieving his an Xbox video game.

"On the way down all he kept saying was, 'My Xbox,'' said McIlvain.

This was the second high-rise fire in Chicago within a week. Beata Bihl, 84, was killed Thursday after a fire broke out in her 36th-floor condominium at 260 E. Chesnut St.